AHLA and Culture Studies Credit
In this section, we will explore the various material and ideological
manifestations that together compose "popular culture." Fundamental
questions for our interrogation will include: What is culture? What is
popular culture? Popular for whom? Who decides what is popular? We
will be especially interested in questions of genre: how postmodern
materials parody or reemploy the expectations of a given genre, how
advertisements rely upon generic expectations for their messages, and
how we recognize these expectations. (Think of the Halloween-Scream
relationship, or Austin Powers as Goldmember.) Also of interest will
be the gendering of genre: e.g., romance as a feminine genre, and
adventure as masculine romance. We will also look at current trends in
popular culture, such as the hypertextual revolution.
Since this course is taught from a comparative literature perspective,
textual instances of culture will be privileged, though "textual" is
to be taken in a broad sense: lyrics, movies, commercials, books, and
stories are all texts to be read, as is popular culture itself.
Assignments will include midterm and final exams; two short essays;
and informed participation in class discussions.